soundoff(112 Responses)

tylerv

I'm glad this made the news. As an adult who was sentenced to church as a child by my parents, I know first hand that this is serious punishment. I would probably choose jail. Or gouge my eyes out. I have to go turn church once a year with my father too- coming up soon. Getting drunk doesn't make it any more fun. It just makes me less tolerant of the complete idiocy around me.

Anyway, if the Judge is going to provide alternative sentencing, and if an option is going to be a religious one, the person should be able to choose their religion or fight in appeals. I would recommend Buddism or Hinduism, those people are at least interesting and don't have so much phony metaphysical baggage. .

Smelly b e a n e r from a country that is one gigantic drug gang believes in 2000 year old myths.

That makes sense.

November 26, 2012 at 1:41 pm |

AGrey

Jimmy: Once you use insults and racial slurs you might as well hold up a sign that says "Don't listen to me, I have nothing intelligent to say." You completely invalidate yourself because you imply that you aren't capable of any degree of critical thought or reasoning and you would have an issue with anyone of Mexican heritage, whether they are a criminal or an upstanding member of society. The real threat to the better good of society is not Mexicans, but individuals who engage in anti-social behavior which happens to be common to all races, ethnic groups, and nationalities, and individuals such as yourself who refuse to engage in any meaningful thought.

November 30, 2012 at 12:33 am |

sam stone

Don't you have to go pick some cabbage, Pedro?

December 4, 2012 at 2:15 pm |

sam stone

While we're at it, Pedro...how's that tailbone?

December 4, 2012 at 2:17 pm |

sam stone

AGrey: Do you seriously beleve Pedro was attempting to be persuasive?

December 4, 2012 at 2:18 pm |

faith lives

ayyy thankgod for you god bless you truth is on the air or the internet aka antichrist search unit

From the article, "a judge has sentenced a teen to 10 years of church attendance, saying, "It was the right thing to do."".

How can this be the "right thing"? If the teen is a believer, it's not a punishment, if he isn't, it's cruel and unusual.

November 24, 2012 at 12:39 pm |

OTOH

LinCA,

From what I have read, the kid is already a 'believer' and goes to church every Sunday. I'm not sure what other terms or restrictions are being placed on him - it should certainly be no driving, no drinking and being confined at home other than school and work. Letting the family and the church be the guards, wardens and the room and board providers could save the public a bunch of money - if he is truly non-violent.

You said, "Letting the family and the church be the guards, wardens and the room and board providers could save the public a bunch of money – if he is truly non-violent."
Very true, and I don't dispute that it is the cheaper way to sentence the teen. The issue I have is with the punishment part of the sentence. The teen was found guilty of causing the death of another. For that he's either not punished, or punished with a very cruel punishment (because he seems to be a believer, probably the former).

Go to the link, it has nothing about not driving, or house arrest (which is an alternative to jail sentencing, not a sentence in itself), not to mention this Judge has done this before:

"Judge Norman says this isn't the first time he's sentenced someone to church. He often deals with a lot of parents who fail to pay child support and felons who fail to take care of their court cost. He’s also sentenced them to church. Norman says they have a better chance changing their lives in the house of the lord."

"Alred has been ordered to stay away from bars, clubs, tobacco products and alcohol."
No mention of anything else. Not drinking is a standard part of probation, so that's not even something to blink at, but tobacco products? It just sounds like this asshole of a judge is just trying to convert people using his authority as leverage to threaten people. This fuck needs to be disbarred and banned federally from ever seeking another judge appointment.

December 4, 2012 at 1:44 pm |

artt

This shouldn't be able to happen the judge is force religion on someone in face we should be outraged about this the judge should lose his job

November 24, 2012 at 12:29 pm |

Kindness

kindness
This is my experience... Thank you.

MY personal testimony.
A thought to consider without an ego response

I Accepted Jesus christ as my lord and saviour. You never know how soon is too late. Transcend the worldly illusion of enslavement.
The world denounces truth....

Accepting Jesus Christ (for me) resulted in something like seeng a new colour. You will see it .....but will not be able to clearly explain it to anyone else..... Its meant to be that way to transend any selfism within you.

Also... much the world arranges "surrounding dark matter into something to be debated" in such a way that protects/inflates the ego.

The key is be present and transcend our own desire to physically see evidence. We don't know anyways by defending our own perception of dark matter.

Currently.... most of us are constructing our own path that suits our sin lifestyle. Were all sinners. Knowing that we are is often an issue. But both christians and non are sinners. Even once we are saved by christs merciful grace we will still experience adversity to mold us to adhering to the truth.
We will slip... But not fall of the ship ...carrying us onward to perfection in christs grace.

We don't like to Let go and let god. We want control to some degree. This is what Jesus asks us to do. "Follow me".
It's the hardest thing to do... but is done by letting the truth of scripture lead you (redemptive revelation)... as I said .

Try reading corinthians and see if it makes sense to you. Try it without a pre conceived notion of it being a fairy tale.
See the truth...
do we do what it says in todays society... is it relevant... so many have not recently read and only hinge their philosophy on what they have heard from some other person...which may have been full of arogance pride or vanity..

Just think if you can find any truth you can take with you ....in any of these things. When you die your riches go to someone who will spend away your life..... You will be forgotten.... history will repeat iteslf.... the greatest minds knowledge fade or are eventually plagerzed..... your good deeds will be forgotten and only give you a fleeting temporary reward . your learned teachings are forgotten or mutated..... your gold is transfered back to the rullers that rule you through deception. Your grave will grow over . This is truth .

Trancsend your egoism and free yourself from this dominion of satan. Understand you are a sinner and part of the collective problem of this worldly matrix... Repent.... Repent means knowing (to change) The Holy spirit (within) will convict you beyond what you think you can do by yourself. Grace is given to those who renounce the world. That are" in" the world but not "of " the world.

Faith comes by Reading or Hearing the word of god from the bible . Ask Jesus in faith for dicernment and start reading the new testament... You will be shocked when you lay down your preconceived notions and ....see and hear truth ... see how christ sets an example ... feel the truth....

Read Ecclesiastes. Read romans or corinthians.

You cant trancend your own egoism by adapting a world philosophy to suit your needs. Seek the truth in Christ.

Sell all your cleverness and purchase true bewilderment. You don't get what you want ....you get what you are by faith above reason in christ.

I promise this has been the truth for me. In Jesus christ .

Think of what you really have to lose. ...your ego?

Break the Matrix of illusion that holds your senses captive.

once you do . you too will have the wisdom of God that comes only through the Holy Spirit. Saved By grace through Faith. Just like seeing a new colour.... can't explain it to a transient caught in the matrix of worldly deception.
You will also see how the world suppresses this information and distorts it

You're all smart people . I tell the truth. Its hard to think out of the box when earthly thinking is the box.
I'ts a personal free experience you can do it free anytime . Don't wait till you are about to die.. START PUTTING YOUR TREASURES WHERE THEY REALLY MATTER >
Its awsome and It's just between you and Jesus

my testimony

Romans 10:9

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved

Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith’s door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
The, looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.
“How many anvils have you had,” said I,
“To wear and batter all these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he, and then with twinkling eye,
“The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.”
And so, thought I, the anvil of God’s Word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed – the hammers gone.

Prayer does not; you are such a LIAR. You have NO proof it changes anything! A great example of prayer proven not to work is the Christians in jail because prayer didn't work and their children died. For example: Susan Grady, who relied on prayer to heal her son. Nine-year-old Aaron Grady died and Susan Grady was arrested.

An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.

The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs.

November 26, 2012 at 9:27 am |

herp derp

[citation needed]

December 4, 2012 at 12:42 pm |

Christianity is a form of mental illness- FACT

(1) Hallucinations – the person has invisible friends who (s)he insists are real, and to whom (s)he speaks daily, even though nobody can actually see or hear
these friends.

(2) Delusions – the patient believes that the invisible friends have magical powers to make them rich, cure cancer, bring about world peace, and will do so eventually if asked.

(3) Denial/Inability to learn – though the requests for world peace remain unanswered, even after hundreds of years, the patients persist with the praying behaviour, each time expecting different results.

(4) Inability to distinguish fantasy from reality – the beliefs are contingent upon ancient mythology being accepted as historical fact.

(5) Paranoia – the belief that anyone who does not share their supernatural concept of reality is "evil," "the devil," "an agent of Satan".

As an atheist you believe in evolution. So explain to me mutations, natural selection, macroevolution and the other myths you believe in. I hope your actually a scientist who knows the subject.

November 24, 2012 at 12:14 am |

artt

and your a closed minded mexican

November 24, 2012 at 12:30 pm |

Prilyam

Hey, why don't you go take a friggin' class in biology and learn it for yourself? Pick up Darwin's Origin of Species and read it, if you can read beyond 5th grade level. Nobody here owes you an explanation when there are books you can read and classes you can take on your own. My education wasn't free, and I'll not pass it on to you for free. You admit to not knowing anything about it and then make ridiculous pronouncements about it? How about just stick to what you know... nothing.

November 26, 2012 at 6:52 am |

Kevin

Do the research yourself. There's ample amounts of it and on reading levels that I'm sure even you can muddle through ;)

"Macroevolution" is a myth and a false dichotomy, by the way. Natural selection is so elegant that it's one of the few things in science that's self-evident.
Not an expert in cell reproduction so can't speak to the precise source of randomness in DNA that lead to mutations.

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.